BILL NUMBER: SB 323 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 22, 1999
INTRODUCED BY Senator Hayden
FEBRUARY 8, 1999
An act to add Chapter 2.5 (commencing with Section 5072) to Title
7 of Part 3 of, and Chapter 3.6 to add and
repeal Chapter 3.4 (commencing with Section 13827) to
and Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 13827.6) of
Title 6 of Part 4 of, the Penal Code, relating to crime
prevention.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 323, as amended, Hayden. Crime prevention.
Existing law imposes increased penalties for crimes committed by
criminal street gangs and provides remedies for the confiscation of
firearms and other deadly weapons owned or possessed by gang members.
Existing law also requires the Commission on Peace Officer Training
to implement a course of instruction to provide ongoing training to
peace officers on methods of gang law enforcement and establishes in
the Office of Criminal Justice Planning, the Gang Violence
Suppression Program to provide financial and technical assistance for
district attorneys' offices, local law enforcement agencies, county
probation departments, school districts, county offices of education,
and community-based organizations that are primarily engaged in the
suppression of gang violence.
This bill would create the Commission on Prison Peace to identify
the causes of violence and recommend innovative approaches to prevent
them and increase the conditions of peace and safety in the
correctional system. The bill would require that the chair of the
commission be appointed by the Governor and consist of 17 additional
members appointed by the Governor, as specified, the Speaker of the
Assembly, and the Senate Committee on Rules. By increasing the
duties of local officials, this bill would impose a state-mandated
local program.
This bill would also establish the Peace Process Task
Force to hold public hearings, make findings and recommendations
regarding gang violence prevention, and to promote efforts to create
a peace process. The task force would be a joint project of state
government, educational institutions, and private foundations,
consisting of 23 26 members, including
7 members whose backgrounds include former gang membership,
incarceration, and personal efforts to create gang truces, and a
commitment to a peaceful, legal, and democratic means of resolving
inner-city violence. The membership would be appointed as specified
by the Senate Committee on Rules, the Speaker of the Assembly, and
the Governor. The task force would be required to hold at least 5
public hearings in specified locations for specified purposes and
prepare a comprehensive report to be presented to the Senate and
Assembly Public Safety Committees and the Governor beginning January
1, 2001, regarding the formulation of comprehensive public policy
that identifies strategies for reducing gang-related crime and
violence. The bill would also establish in the office of the
Attorney General, the office of Peace Process Coordinator. The
coordinator would be in charge of evaluating and encouraging violence
prevention efforts among gangs and residents of inner-city
communities faced with gang violence and would have specified duties.
This bill would also create the Commission on Prison Peace to
undertake a public review of innovative approaches to reduce the
causes of violence and increase the conditions of peace and safety in
the correctional system. The bill requires that the chair of the
commission be appointed by the Governor and consist of 17 additional
members appointed as specified by the Governor, the Speaker of the
Assembly, and the Senate Committee on Rules. By increasing the
duties of local officials, this bill would impose a state-mandated
local program.
The provisions of the bill would remain in effect only until
January 1, 2002. The bill would also provide that it is to become
operative only if funding is appropriated by the Budget Act of 1999.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement, including the creation of a State Mandates Claims Fund
to pay the costs of mandates that do not exceed $1,000,000 statewide
and other procedures for claims whose statewide costs exceed
$1,000,000.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates
determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state,
reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these
statutory provisions.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 2.5 (commencing with Section 5072) is added to
Title 7 of Part 3 of the Penal Code, to read:
CHAPTER 2.5. COMMISSION ON PRISON PEACE
5072. (a) There is hereby created the Commission on Prison Peace.
(b) The commission shall be chaired by an appointee of the
Governor, and shall consist of 17 additional members appointed as
follows:
(1) The chair and eight additional members shall be appointed by
the Governor upon subsequent approval of the Senate
Committee on Rules . The eight appointees shall have
experience and expertise in corrections or law enforcement, and shall
include a member of the Department of Corrections administrative
staff, a Department of Corrections correctional officer and a
representative of the California Correctional Peace Officers
Association.
(2) Four members shall be appointed by the Speaker of the
Assembly, and four members shall be appointed by the Senate Committee
on Rules. The legislative appointees shall be academic, religious,
or community leaders with demonstrated records of working to lessen
gang violence or prison violence.
(3) The Attorney General or a designee.
(c) The Peace Process Coordinator shall staff the commission.
(d) The commission shall undertake a public review of
innovative approaches to reduce the causes of violence
identify the causes of violence and recommend innovative approaches
to prevent them and increase the conditions of peace and safety
in California's correctional system, including probation camps,
county jails, the state prison, and high-security facilities,
including the Corcoran Secured Housing Unit. The commission shall
hold public hearings and seek the testimony of correctional officers,
prison inmates, former inmates, policy experts, academic
specialists, and community leaders. At least one public hearing
will be held in a prison setting or in a location where inmate
participation or dialogue is made possible.
(e) No later than September 1, 2000, the commission shall report
its preliminary findings, and no later than December 31st
31, 2000 , submit a final report, to the
Governor and the Legislature. The preliminary findings and final
report shall include a summary of the information gathered from all
types of sources and proposals for reducing prison violence.
(f) The commission shall meet initially upon the call of the
chair, and shall adopt rules governing its proceedings. The
commission shall operate by consensus or, failing consensus, shall
adopt procedures for noting majority and minority viewpoints in its
record and report.
(g) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2002, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2002, deletes or extends
that date.
SEC. 2. Chapter 3.6 3.4 (commencing
with Section 13827) is added to Title 6 of Part 4 of the Penal Code,
to read:
CHAPTER 3.6. 3.4. PEACE PROCESS
TASK FORCE
13827. There is hereby established the Peace Process Task Force
to hold public hearings, make findings and recommendations regarding
gang violence prevention, and promote efforts to create a peace
process.
13827.1. (a) The task force as a joint project of state
government, educational institutions, and private foundations shall
consist of 23 26 members appointed as
follows:
(1) Five members shall be appointed by the Senate Committee on
Rules, three of whom shall have personal experience with gang issues,
as specified in paragraph (4). One member shall have professional
experience with economic development and job creation in communities
with significant gang, crime, or violence problems. One member shall
have academic or public policy experience with issues related to
gangs, crime, and violence.
(2) Five members shall be appointed by the Speaker of the
Assembly, three of whom shall have personal experience with gang
issues, as specified in paragraph (4). One member shall have
professional experience with economic development and job creation in
communities with significant gang, crime, or violence problems. One
member shall have academic or public policy experience with issues
related to gangs, crime, and violence.
(3) Six Nine members shall be
appointed by the Governor. One member shall be a law
enforcement officer sheriff. One member shall be a
chief of police. Two members shall be law enforcement officers who
have extensive experience with gang-related violence . One
member shall be a probation officer. One member shall be a member of
the California Business Roundtable. One member shall be a member of
a chamber of commerce. One member shall be a correctional
administrator. One member shall be a private citizen.
(4) The membership of the task force shall include an additional
seven persons whose backgrounds include former gang membership,
incarceration, and personal efforts to create gang truces, and a
commitment to a peaceful, legal, and democratic means of resolving
the problem of inner-city violence. These seven members shall be
appointed by the chair, in consultation with the office of the
Attorney General. When making these appointments, the chair shall
ensure that the northern, central, and southern regions of California
are adequately represented on the task force.
(b) The membership of the task force shall reflect the ethnic and
geographic complexity of the gang problem in this state.
(c) The appointments made pursuant to paragraphs (1) to (3),
inclusive, of subdivision (a) shall be made on or before February 15,
2000. The appointments made pursuant to paragraph (4) of
subdivision (a) shall be made on or before March 1, 2000.
(d) The Governor shall select a chair , to be confirmed by
the Senate, from among the members of the task force. Included
in the chair's duties shall be calling and chairing meetings,
publicly representing the task force where necessary, leading an
inclusive process, encouraging the maximum involvement of all task
force members, and encouraging support and partnerships with the
private sector and other institutions.
(e) The task force may select up to three cochairs
vice chairs , select officers, and establish
committees among its members. Each committee shall meet as often as
the committee members find necessary. It is the intent of the
Legislature that all task force members shall actively participate in
all task force deliberations required by this chapter. Any member
who misses three consecutive meetings or attends less than 50 percent
of the task force's regularly scheduled meetings in any calendar
year for any cause except severe temporary illness or injury shall be
automatically removed from the task force.
(f) Members of the task force shall receive no compensation for
their services, but shall be reimbursed for the expenses actually and
necessarily incurred by them in the performance of their duties
under this chapter. No compensation or expenses shall be received by
the members of any continuing task forces, review committees, or
other auxiliary bodies created by the task force who are not task
force members, except that persons requested to appear before the
task force with regard to specific topics on one or more occasions
shall be reimbursed for the travel expenses necessarily incurred in
fulfilling those requests.
13827.2. The task force shall do all of the following:
(a) Hold at least four public hearings, with at least two in
communities most heavily marked by urban violence and the first of
the four public hearings held no later than April 15, 2000.
(b) Hold an additional public hearing in a prison setting or in a
location where inmate participation or dialogue is made possible.
(c) Include those who have created gang truces directly in the
process of defining and recommending alternatives that will lessen or
prevent violence in the inner city.
(d) Create a common ground of discussion among public officials,
law enforcement, and those individuals attempting to transform their
lives from violence to nonviolent empowerment.
(e) Forge formal partnerships in at least one local community
experiencing significant gang problems in each of the northern,
central, and southern regions of California, with representatives of
the corporate community, the local business sector, local law
enforcement, local government, local providers of social and related
services, local neighborhood associations, and with members of the
community, for the following purposes:
(1) Identifying the local problems and needs of each specific
community as they relate to gangs, violence, and crime.
(2) Identifying strategies, which, at a minimum, include
strategies related to gang truces, job creation, and social services,
to address problems related to local gang, violence, and crime
problems.
(3) Identifying and making efforts to secure resources necessary
for implementing local strategies.
(f) Assess and recommend possible ways of breaking the cycle of
gang violence through early childhood programs, remedial education
and training, inner-city jobs, drug treatment, and other violence
prevention strategies.
(g) Provide assistance and advice to local governments or
communities suffering from gang violence. This assistance may
include counseling, mediation, speakers, public education, and
promoting models of local forms of violence prevention.
(h) Prepare a comprehensive report which shall be presented to the
Senate and Assembly Public Safety Committees and the Governor by
January 1, 2001, concerning the formulation of comprehensive public
policy that identifies state and local strategies for reducing
gang-related crime and violence.
13827.3. Notwithstanding Section 7550.5 of the Government Code,
the task force shall prepare and submit an annual report to the
Legislature and to the Governor by January 1, 2001, and by
January 1st of each year thereafter. on January 1st of
the following year.
13827.4. The office of the Attorney General shall, and the Senate
Office of Research may, make staff resources available to the task
force for the purpose of providing research, policy, and technical
assistance. Additionally, foundations, educational institutions, and
private sector parties are encouraged to offer staff and other
in-kind resources.
13827.5. No more than two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000)
shall be spent over two years on expenditures for the four hearings,
publications, staffing, and administrative expenses required by the
task force as described in this chapter.
13827.51. This chapter shall remain in effect only until January
1, 2002, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute that is enacted before January 1, 2002, deletes or extends
that date.
SEC. 3. Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 13827.6) is added to
Title 6 of Part 4 of the Penal Code, to read:
CHAPTER 3.5. PEACE PROCESS COORDINATOR
13827.6. (a) There is hereby established the office of Peace
Process Coordinator in the office of the Attorney General. The
coordinator shall be in charge of evaluating and encouraging violence
prevention efforts among gangs and residents of inner-city
communities faced with gang violence, including the phenomena known
as "gang truces."
(b) (1) The Peace Process Coordinator shall be appointed by the
Governor, and confirmed by the Senate, pursuant to Section 1774 of
the Government Code.
(2) The qualifications of the coordinator shall include both
professional experience in community-based violence prevention
programs and juvenile justice programs, and a personal background in
communities where gang violence is prevalent.
(c) The coordinator shall do all of the following:
(1) Serve as staff director to the Peace Process Task Force
and the Commission on Prison Peace .
(2) Identify areas of the state where gang violence has been
significantly reduced, meet with local violence prevention groups and
interested parties, including law enforcement, and evaluate any
lessons for state policy.
(3) Visit areas of the state where gang violence seems endemic and
ongoing, meet with local violence prevention groups and interested
parties, including law enforcement, and evaluate and make
recommendations regarding measures that might achieve mediation or
intervention that results in a lessening of violence.
(4) Convene public workshops, training sessions, and private
consultations that bring together former gang members, gang members
committed to reducing violence, community-based organizations
involved in violence prevention programs promoted under the
California Gang, Crime, and Violence Prevention Partnership Program,
law enforcement, and local business and community leaders for the
purpose of achieving better communications, conflict resolution, and
understanding of identifiable barriers to violence prevention.
(5) Seek interagency cooperative agreements of memoranda of
understanding with the Department of Justice, the Employment
Development Department, the Trade and Commerce Agency, and any other
state agencies to help maximize institutional resources focused on
violence prevention.
13827.7. This chapter shall remain in effect only until January
1, 2002, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute that is enacted before January 1, 2002, deletes or extends
that date.
SEC. 3.
SEC. 4. This act shall only become operative if there is an
appropriation in the Budget Act of 1999 to fund the provisions of
this act.
SEC. 4.
SEC. 5. Notwithstanding Section 17610 of the Government
Code, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act
contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies
and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part
7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the
Government Code. If the statewide cost of the claim for
reimbursement does not exceed one million dollars ($1,000,000),
reimbursement shall be made from the State Mandates Claims Fund.